Among the parties who responded to our online survey, there are areas of unanimity on the key issues to be addressed in the tech sector by the next Government, but they diverge in their priorities and scope and detail of their policy statements

With an election in the air, The Irish Times asked 10 leading figures in the technology sector last week to list the top three technology-related issues that they would like the next Government to address.

This week, we asked all of the political parties represented in the Dáil to tell us the key technology-related elements of their party policy.

They were asked to pick out three to five points that they thought were of greatest importance.

However, all parties were asked to return their responses before last week's piece appeared in print - so that they couldn't cheat and use those industry leaders' concerns as a blueprint for their policy (not that they would, of course!).

To test just how tech-literate each party really is, we e-mailed the parties this question through contact addresses on their party websites and gave them a full week to respond.

Oddly, Fianna Fáil has no press archive on its website. Labour has detailed contact addresses, but to send e-mail you have to fill in an onsite form - which means you can't automatically keep a copy of the e-mail you've sent for your own files.

Fine Gael is at both www.finegael.ie and finegael.com, but their e-mail addresses don't use their domain name, instead going through indigo.ie.

Likewise, Sinn Féin has www.sinnfein.ie (one might ask what the political implications are of its recognising and using the .ie domain) but its e-mail address is, bizarrely, via its web designers or alternatively through Ireland On-Line.

Branding, folks, branding - if you own a domain name, use it for your e-mail!

The best sites, because of their simplicity of presentation and ease of use, are the Greens (www.greenparty.ie) and the PDs (the horrific-to-type www.progressivedemocrats.ie).

Fianna Fáil's is the most confusing and overly-busy. Sinn Féin's looks a bit 1990s-amateurish. Labour's and Fine Gael's are capable and do the job.

Labour responded first to The Irish Times request, but forgot to follow through with its final document until prompted. Fine Gael was back first with an actual response.

The Greens and Fianna Fáil also made the deadline (just, for Fianna Fáil). Neither Sinn Féin nor the PDs responded at all.

Sinn Féin recently spoke out about the importance of the Dublin digital hub project - but doesn't seem to read its own party e-mail. And given the importance placed on the tech sector by party leader and Tánaiste Ms Harney, not least in her party's election manifesto, the PDs lack of interest - or failure to read their party e-mail - is particularly strange.

Here are their responses:

Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil sees the information age as a further means to attain our traditional goals of economic prosperity and social equality. Using technology to strengthen the economy, improve Government services and bridge the digital divide, we seek to ensure that the digital age brings an inclusive digital economy.

Broadband connectivity: Fianna Fáil will supports the provision of cheap, open-access, "always on" broadband infrastructure, of a minimum standard of five megabits for home-users and substantially higher for business, throughout the State within three years.

Bridging the digital divide: Fianna Fáil sees information communications technologies (ICTs) and the information age as a key means of building an inclusive society. We will be building on the measures already implemented - CAIT, library internet access, the equalskills projects, etc, to advance the agenda of social inclusion.

Providing the legal and regulatory basis for the information age: In the information age, a nation's legislative and regulatory environment is a crucial competitive factor in developing indigenous information companies and in attracting and maintaining the presence of high-value, multinational companies.

Fianna Fáil will ensure that the rapid pace of change does not outstrip the evolution of our laws and regulations, and that the laws offer the full degree of protection from those utilising information technology for criminal purposes.

Having paved the way in this area through the Electronic Commerce Act 2000; the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000; Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001; and the European Communities (Data Protection) Regulations, 2001, we are committed to continuing on this legislative and regulatory path.

EGovernment: We can make Government work better, at all levels for the individual citizen by using ICT.

Having established OASIS, BASIS, Revenue Online Service and the EFORMS platform, amongst others, we have placed Ireland at the forefront in terms of eGovernment internationally.

We want to complete the job of opening up central and local government services via ICT by having all public services capable of electronic delivery available through a single point of contact by 2005.

Fine Gael

Fine Gael has pinpointed a number of key objectives in our technology policy. Primary among these is the extension of broadband.

Broadband: Fine Gael believes that Ireland must possess an advanced national telecommunications infrastructure if we are to secure our future prosperity.

The development of a competitive market for broadband services is critical to sustaining high levels of growth in incomes, employment and overall economic growth for the next decade.

Ireland is lagging behind in the provision of broadband, the key infrastructure of the future.

At present Ireland is ranked 27th out of 28th by the OECD for the provision of broadband services, behind countries such as Mexico and Portugal.

Without a new vision and strong leadership on this issue, Ireland is at risk of squandering the gains it has made in technology policy and will see a decline in its information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Fine Gael proposes:

The immediate implementation of the Communications Regulatory Bill 2002.

The creation of a public-private partnership to create an alternative open-access national broadband backbone.

That Government would provide a one-off defined differential subsidy to operators who connect their customers, i.e. SMEs, to broadband service.

The differential would be between urban and rural customers and the subsidy would be technology neutral.

EGovernment: Fine Gael believes that egovernment offers a real opportunity to transform the way in which public services are delivered. EGovernment means more effective rather than just electronic government.

Fine Gael believes that additional enforcement and regulation will be required to promote the eGovernment and e-commerce agenda going forward, such as an eCzar.

IT development in the health services: Fine Gael feel that additional use should be made of advances in "telemedicine" for consultation and diagnosis of patients in their GPs' surgeries by means of a video link to a consultant - especially for those patients who live in areas that are far removed from a general hospital.

In addition, Fine Gael believes that there is a major opportunity to use internet technologies to share clinical information between GPs, hospitals and pharmacies and thus cut costs and provide a better service to the public.

Homeworking/teleworking: New technology is changing the way we work. To reflect our changing lifestyles and to ease some of the increasing pressures on families, increasingly work can be done from home.

Taking the daily commute out of work could greatly enhance the quality of people's lives. To reflect this Fine Gael will undertake a teleworking initiative in the public service with the aim to have 20,000 homeworkers.

Green Party

In Government, the Green Party will actively promote information technology as a means of democratising society, improving information and providing a mass tool of education.

The party actively supports the development of eGovernment policy.

We will ensure that the necessary infrastructure to accommodate this is developed.

All citizens - from the business community to pensioners - should be able to access IT easily and quickly from all areas.

The present situation where broadband is limited in many parts of the country is unacceptable.

However, there is no point in developing systems and providinginfrastracture if people do not know how to use them. Therefore, we will allocate €1.27 million per annum, for three years, to an Information Society Fund, to provide training and awareness activities for electronic technologies in all sectors, including the home.

As a matter of interest, and of putting policy into practice, the Green Party uses electronic mail extensively in its everyday operations.

In addition, the Green Party is committed to consensus and open dialogue, which takes into account the opinions and feedback of all members.

Therefore, many of our policies or initiatives are circulated to special policy advisory groups or the more general membership via the e-mail for their feedback. The party also has a lively discussion group, which is contributed to on a regular basis by a large number of members.

Labour Party

The Labour Party is keenly aware of the importance not just of e-business to the Irish economy but the wider opportunities for citizens' participation in society through the internet.

For that reason we wish to see the potential for broadband expanded across the country - it is a key component of our spatial plan. Lack of competition between telecommunications companies is clearly an issue and Labour sees its new Department of Infrastructure as key driver here.

We want to see the internet integrated more fully into teacher training and the classroom.

We are extremely conscious of the potential of the digital divide to open up further divisions within Irish society.

We are aware of schemes that use computer training as a way out of disadvantage and are keen to facilitate them. We also wish to bridge the divide between those with access to bank accounts and those without through the introduction of universal accounts.

Labour believes that the best way to encourage usage in Ireland is by increasing the range of day- to-day activities that can be conducted over the Net.

In doing so we will enhance our added-value competitiveness by ensuring broad public awareness of e-issues.

For example, a person should be able to conduct the full range of Government business online through an eGovernment portal.

Labour is aware of the high cost of internet usage in Ireland and will ask the Competition Authority to examine the issues involved here.

Labour is keen to address issues of privacy associated with internet usage and while this is a complicated area, given the use of the Net in criminal activity, we believe a balanced bill of e-rights should be possible.